Donning a “dad mode” Bluey T-shirt, Hunter Ford handed Gov. Josh Stein a North Carolina-shaped bottle of his vodka while crashing an unrelated press conference this summer. Ford says the gimmick paid off a few months later. 

Ford was in the midst of a drawn-out feud with the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission over an attempt to sell alcohol at a downtown Wilmington storefront, Momentum Distillery.

Hours after Ford received what he described as a supportive phone call from Stein earlier this month, the ABC Commission approved his application for a permit to operate a distillery. A spokesperson for Stein said that call never happened.

The spokesperson said Stein supports the ABC system and that he was not aware of the permitting issue prior to The Assembly’s inquiry; a spokesperson for the ABC Commission says its staff did not receive instructions from the governor.

Ford’s new store opened last Friday. But despite what the distillery permit suggests, no production happens at that site. Momentum’s production operations are housed in a nondescript industrial area 2.5 miles away. 

The ABC Commission, which controls alcohol sales and businesses statewide, allows distilleries to sell their own liquor directly to customers–only if it’s produced on-site. But Ford is selling liquor at his new store anyway, relying on legal ambiguity in the state’s interpretation of “production.”

Ford, who also made an unsuccessful bid for Rep. Ted Davis’ seat in the 2018 Republican primary, thinks he can set a precedent that can challenge how liquor is sold. And he’s taunting the ABC Commission to intervene. “I hope that what we’ve accomplished is a roadmap to North Carolina going private,” he said. 

In doing so, he also hopes he can generate bipartisan support for defanging the ABC. 

“I’m going to email all the other distilleries out there and say, ‘Look, this is exactly how I did it and I hope and I encourage you to do the same,’” Ford said.

Battle Brewing 

Hunter and his wife, Misti, opened Momentum Spirits in 2022 in the Cotton Exchange, a popular downtown shopping center and tourist attraction. But he says the shopping center had a mold issue, forcing them to find another location to accommodate his operations. 

“There aren’t that many spaces downtown that are large enough that can hold the weight of the still,” he said, referring to the equipment that concentrates alcohol. His weighs at least 3,000 pounds, he said.

Ford views the ABC Commission’s argument that he can’t sell his own product from a storefront within minutes of his actual distillery as arbitrary and self-serving. As Ford sees it, distilleries that sell their own products represent competition for ABC stores, where the state controls the flow of spirits and gets a bigger sales cut. 

Storefront sales account for roughly 80 percent of his revenue, Ford estimates, making foot traffic and visibility essential. Most small distilleries like his depend on direct, on-site sales, which aren’t taxed as heavily as customer purchases through local ABC stores. Roughly half of what a buyer spends on a bottle of vodka at an ABC store actually goes toward taxes, surcharges, and other state markups. 

Local ABC boards have the discretion to decide which products to offer, and capacity constraints in the state warehouses also limit what stores stock. Amid his tussle over the permit, Ford said the commission delisted two of his spirits, Playa Pantaleta Rum and Momentum New World Gin, for not meeting a sales threshold. Some cases of them are still stranded in Raleigh, he said. 

Ford analogized his distillery to Ferguson, a supplier of plumbing and HVAC products carried in home improvement stores. “Can you imagine if Ferguson was owned by the plumbing authority, and then they said you couldn’t buy plumbing supplies anymore at Home Depot or Lowe’s?” Ford said. “That sounds ridiculous, but that’s what we do with alcohol.”

In June, Ford found a new location in “a forgotten part of Wilmington” past the Isabel Holmes Bridge, and asked the state to update his old distillery permit address. Meanwhile, a tenant moved out of the space on Front Street that he already owned, where he previously operated Momentum Surf and Skate from 2008 to 2018. He asked the state to also add this address to the updated permit as well, and was clear about his plans to only use it as a storefront. 

But Ford’s vision of a Front Street homecoming clashed with the ABC Commission’s interpretation of distillery rules. In a string of fiery emails this summer, Ford challenged (and at times, vexed) commission staff. (Both Ford and an ABC Commission spokesman shared the communications upon request.)

“You have my package and I demand my permit,” Ford wrote in a July 25 email to Brandon Green, an administrative supervisor with the commission. 

“To be a distillery you must produce distilled spirits,” Green wrote back. “We cannot issue you or anyone a distillery permit if they are not producing distilled spirits at the premises because that is against the law.”

Ford repeatedly referred to federal distillery rules, which Green said weren’t applicable, and insisted on detailed explanations for why the state wouldn’t approve his permit for a new location. He also copied state Sen. Michael Lee and threatened to involve the ABC Commissioner. 

Green called Ford “rude” and “accusatory.” Ford apologized in a later email for being an “ass.”

Green offered examples of what it might mean to “produce” spirits, a legally undefined but operative term in the debate. “The Commission’s position is that you must do something to further the product, not simply bottle spirits purchased from another producer,” he wrote. Green shared the applicable distillery statute and acknowledged the laws do not spell out what “producing” means. “That’s just unfortunately not how laws are generally drafted.”

Ford likened the ABC Commission to a bully that obstructs and thwarts competition. “You have not issued a single permit and I have met all of the conditions except a word not defined by the lawmakers that wrote it,” he wrote back.

After 10 p.m. that Friday evening, Green responded: “We’re following the law, have explained the law, and it’s ultimately up to you to comply with the law so that you can operate this location legally.”

Jeff Strickland, spokesman for the ABC Commission, said Ford documented commercial activity plans for the storefront in his federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau permit, which are required for all distilleries. 

Ford told The Assembly he may end up aging some barrels in the storefront space, but any “producing” would be happenstance, not by design. “I jumped through the ridiculous hoops and beat them at their own game,” he said. “I dare them to retaliate.” 

Strickland said permits can be withdrawn if ABC investigators determine a permittee is not in compliance, and law enforcement can identify ABC-related violations. Outcomes from violations range from a warning or fine to permit revocation.

Keeping Control 

The first distillery in North Carolina opened in 2005, and the state now has 135 active distillery permits.

The state has been slow to modernize its liquor rules, maintaining a tight grip on both production and sales that still recalls Prohibition-era restrictions.

Starting in 2015, the legislature allowed distilleries to sell one bottle of liquor per customer per year on-site. Two years later, the state increased the annual per-customer allowance to five bottles, and in 2019, removed the on-site sales cap altogether.

“ABC bills are very difficult to pass,” said Rep. Ray Pickett, co-chair of the ABC House Standing Committee. “One of the hardest bills to get through the General Assembly.”

Ambiguity in distillery laws helped Ford’s situation fester. Pickett said improved coordination between the General Assembly and the ABC Commission’s legal teams could ensure laws are written clearly and interpreted as intended. “We’ve run into it with a couple other things we’ve passed in the past, and they interpret it different than we meant.”

North Carolina is one of 17 states that regulate alcohol this way. The system generated $713 million in revenue in the 2024 fiscal year, sending nearly $543 million to the state’s general fund. 

Pickett said he isn’t in favor of privatizing alcohol sales, but says he’s working on changes to lift the regulatory burdens that distillery owners like Ford face. One proposal his staff is researching would reduce the state excise tax, currently 30 percent, for state-produced products.

Pickett thinks Ford and other distilleries should be allowed to operate satellite locations, confined to a specific radius, but disagrees that Ford is operating the state’s first private liquor store. 

On opening day, Ford was at ease in his familiar space downtown. With the door propped open, he observed a busy sidewalk of potential customers. 

“It’s a racket,” he said of the ABC. “The reason why they want to keep control is they don’t want anybody finding out how much money they’re really making.”

Hats, sunglasses, and mixers lined the shelves alongside Ford’s distinctive, North Carolina-shaped glass bottles–just like the one he gave Stein–on sale for $49.95.

In an email Tuesday evening, a spokesperson for Stein told The Assembly the governor appreciated the gift. Minutes later, Ford said he received a call from one of the governor’s staffers, who said Stein liked the vodka, and a check was in the mail to cover its cost.

Update: This article has been updated with additional comments provided by the governor’s office.